Hatchet



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

N. F. ENGLISH, OF HAR'ILAND, VERMONT.

HATCHET.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 20,052, dated April 217, 1858.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, N. F. ENGLISH, of Hartland, in the county of Windsor and State of Vermont, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Hatchets Such as Have the Claw-Hammer Combined with Them; and I d0 hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, in Which- Figure l, is a side view of my improvement. Fig. 2, is a top vieW of ditto.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the two figures.

This invention consists in forming the claw on the upper side of the hatchet adj oining the eye, so that the face of the hammer and claw will have nearly the same relative position as in an ordinary hammer, thereby rendering the implement much more etlicacious than either of the ordinary combined hammer and hatchets hitherto used.

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand and construct my invention I will proceed to describe it.

A, represents the cutting edge of the hatchet. B, is the hammer face at the opposite end, and C, is the handle which is fitted in an eye about at the center of the implement.

The upper or outer edge of the hatchet, just over the eye or end of the handle C, has a V-shaped recess a, formed in it, said recess extending longitudinally into the hatchet so as to leave a lip Z), at the upper edge, said lip being divaricated to form a claw as shown clearly in Fig. 2. The recess a, is made sufficiently large in either direction, see Fig. l, so that the heads of nails may passbetiveen the claw and the body of the hatchet and be caught by the claw. The

outer edge of the claw does not extend beyond the line of the outer edge of the cutting edge A, and the claw therefore cannot interfere With the legitimate Work of the hatchet; neither can the hatchet interfere with the Work of the hammer, the implement being capable of being used equally Well in the capacity of either hammer or hatchet.

Implements of this class are principally used by masons and carpenters and are comm only termed shingling and mason or lath7 hatchets, the masons using-them for lathing Walls preparatory to plastering them, as they can by such an implement out the lath the desired length and nail them t0 the Wall. In shingling roofs they are used to .split the shingles and to nail them to the lath or boards which are secured to the rafters. The ordinary hatchets for such purpose are very objectionable. The claw aX in one kind projects directly from the face of the hammer, as shown by the dotted lines Fig. l, and although advantageous is still a great encumbrance. The face of the hammer cannot enter recesses, which is often desirable in order to drive home nails. In another kind the claw is formed by cutting a slot in the blade of the hatchet also shown by dotted lines. This however is not a good arrangement for drawing nails, as it is diilicult to apply the implement to them, at least it cannotbe done with facility.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as neviT and desire to secure by Letters Patent is- Forming the claw at the outer edge 0f the hatchet and over the eye or end of the handle C, substantially as and for the purpose set fort-h.

N. F. ENGLISH. Vlitnesses JOHN COLBY, JANE C. COLBY. 

